informal norms

Meaning: Informal norms are unwritten, generally understood expectations for behavior, learned through socialization rather than set down in a code. Examples include facing forward in an elevator, saying thank you, and waiting in line. They are usually enforced by informal sanctions such as stares, gossip, ridicule, or exclusion from peers, not by an official body. In Sumner's scheme, folkways are everyday informal norms with mild consequences. Mores are more strongly held, morally weighted norms that are often informal too.

On the MCAT: Passages describe a behavior and ask whether the norm is formal or informal, or what sanction follows. Questions may link norms to social control, deviance, or differences between cultures and subcultures. A breaching-style scenario, in which someone deliberately violates an unspoken rule, reveals the norm through other people's reactions.

Common confusion: Informal does not mean weak. A violated more, such as betraying a friend's trust, can bring severe social rejection, while a written office dress code is formal yet minor. What decides the label is whether the rule is codified and enforced by an official authority (formal) or by shared expectation and peer reaction (informal).